Folding partition.



J. W. WILDMAN.

FOLDING PARTITION.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, I911.

Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

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JAMES WILLIAM WILDIVIAN, OF SANFORD, FLORIDA.

FOLDING PARTITION.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES W. WILDMAN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at- Sanford, in the county of Orange and State of Florida, have invented a new and useful Folding Partition, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a folding partition for Sunday schools, day schools and other places where private class rooms, booths, or other apartments are desired for a limited time.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, efficient and comparatively inexpensive partition, designed particularly for use in Sunday schools and other places, where a number of classes are obliged to meet in the same room, and adapted, without disturbing the seats of the several classes, to be easily and quickly arranged to form a plurality of separate and independent class rooms, and capable also of being compactly folded against the wall, when it is desired to use the Sunday school room for general exercises, the folding being effected with out dismembering the structure in any way.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and pointed out in the claims here to appended; it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of construction, within the scope of the claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawing :Figure 1 is a perspective view of a folding partition, constructed in accordance with this invention, and arranged to form a plurality of separate apart-,

ments or class rooms. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view. Fig. 3 is an elevation, the partition being folded. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view, illustrating the construction for pivotally connecting the longitudinal rod with the outer ends of the brackets.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawing.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 18, 1911.

Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

Serial No. 621,853.

In the'accompanying drawing in which is illustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention, the folding partition comprises in its construction a plurality of spaced foldable brackets 1, hinged at their inner ends to the wall 2 and pivotally connected at their outer ends with a longitudinal connecting rod 3, which is foldable against the wall with the said brackets, when the partition is not in use. The brackets are preferably constructed of tubular metal, and each bracket consists of horizontal bottom rods 4, an inclined'top rod 5, and an inner vertical rod 6, which is connected with the inner ends of the top and bottom rods by T-shaped couplings 7. The bracket is also provided at its inner end with upper and lower T-shaped couplings 8, forming eyes and fitted on upper and lower pintles 9, suitably secured to the wall. The pintles are arranged at regular intervals, and the brackets are adapted to swing in either direction and fold against the wall. Although the upper and lower rods 4 and 5 are shown constructed of a single piece of tubular metal, it will be apparent that the swinging brackets may be constructed of wood, or any other suitable material.

The brackets are equipped at their outer ends with alined sleeves 10, located beneath the bottom rods 4 and connected with the outer ends of the brackets by vertical pivots 11, piercing the outer terminals of the lower and upper rods 4 and 5. The longitudinal connecting rod 3 extends through and is supported by the alined sleeves, the pivoting of the connecting rod with the outer ends of the brackets and the hinging of the inner ends of the brackets to the wall permitting the parts to fold against the latter, as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

The bottom rods 4 of the bracket form supports for side curtains 12, .andthe longitudinal connecting rod supports front curtains 13, which are preferably arranged in pairs, as shown. The side and frontcurtains 12 and 13 are suspended from the bot-- tom rods 4 of the brackets and the longitudinal connecting rod 3 by means of rings 14 and 15, but they may be suspended from the brackets and the longitudinal connecting rod in any other suitable manner. The brackets may be made of any desired length and may be spaced any distance apart to form class rooms, booths, or apartments of any desired size, and they may be readily swung outward from the wall and arranged for use without disturbing the classes or causing any confusion among the same. The device is adapted to quickly separate the classes of a Sunday school, and is capable of afi ording them the privacy of individual rooms without requiring the classes to move from one point to another, and the partition forming the individual class rooms may be quickly and compactly folded against the wall when it is desired to use a Sunday school room for general exercises.

My invention is distinguishable from the prior art in that the entire structure, including the curtains or partitions, may be folded fiat against the wall without detaching the curtains or removing or dismembering any part of the apparatus. So far as I am aware, it is new to provide a series of brackets which are hinged to a wall, said brackets carrying side curtains, or partitions, and then connect said brackets by a longitudinal rod which supports front curtains, this construction forming a series of apartments, booths or rooms, which may be folded flat against the Wall by a single movement and Without removing a screw or necessitating the separation of a single element.

While the rod 3 is'a single element and connects a plurality of the brackets by passing through the sleeves 10, it is by no means necessary that it should be made of a single piece, for it is obvious that it could be made of several lengths of tubing connected by ordinary couplings.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A device of the class described including a plurality of spaced brackets hinged at their inner ends and provided with means for supporting pendent side curtains or partitions, and a single longitudinal rod pivoted to and connecting all the brackets at the outer ends thereof and forming a support for front curtains, said brackets and rod being foldable together as a unit against a wall or other support without removing or dismembering a single element.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a plurality of brackets, means for pivoting the said brackets by vertical pivots to a wall or other support in the same horizontal plane and at spaced points, means for hanging curtains or partitions to said brackets, a longitudinal rod, means for hanging separate curtains at different points along the said rod, the curtains or partitions of the brackets forming two sides while the curtains of the rod and the wall form the remaining two sides of separate rooms or apartments, and means for pivotally connecting the outer ends ofthe brackets to the rod, whereby said brackets, rod and attached curtains may be folded flatagainst the wall or drawn out therefrom as a unit without removing or dismembering a single element.

3. A device of the class described including a plurality of spaced foldable brackets provided at their inner ends with means for hinging them to a wall, alined sleeves pivotally connected to the outer ends of the brackets, a longitudinal connecting rod passing through the sleeves and carried by and foldable with the brackets, and front and side curtains suspended from the rod and the brackets and forming separate rooms or apartments.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a plurality of brackets, means for pivoting the said brackets by vertical pivots to a wall all in the same horizontal plane and at spaced points, means for hanging curtains or partitions to said brackets to form two sides of a room, sleeves depending from the outer ends of the brackets, means for swiveling the sleeves to the brackets, a horizontally disposed longitudinal rod passed through the sleeves of all the brackets, means for hanging curtains to the rod at spaced points between each pair of side curtains, the curtains of the rod forming with the wall the remaining two sides of the room, whereby the several brackets and rod with their attached curtains may be folded as a unitagainst the wall and unfolded similarly without removing or dismembering a single element.

5. In a device of the class described, the

combination of a series of horizontally swinging brackets, means for hinging them to a wall, means for hanging curtains from said brackets, a connecting means between the brackets, means for hanging curtains from said connecting means, and means for pivotally joining the connecting means to the brackets, the curtains of the brackets and the connecting means forming with the wall a series of rooms or apartments, which will maintain their separate existence while the parts are in their normal positions, but may be merged into a single apartment by folding the brackets with their attached curtains and rod against the wall.

6. As a means for converting a hall or a room into a number of smaller rooms, booths or apartments, the combination of a series of horizontally swinging brackets, means for hinging said brackets to one wall of the hall or room at spaced points along said wall, means for hanging curtain or other partitions from said brackets, and connecting devices for connecting all of the brackets so as to maintain them at proper distances apart at substantially a right angle to the wall, said connecting devices constituting a In testimony, that I claim the foregoing support for a series of front curtains to be as my own, I have hereto aifixed my signa-' arranged between each pair of side curtains, ture in the presence of two witnesses.

whereby the brackets with their attached JAMES WILLIAM WILDMAN. 5 curtains and connecting device may be Witnesses:

folded fiat against the wall or swung out N. J. PERKINS,

from the wall when desired. A. P. ALDRIDGE.

Copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of'ZPatents. Washington, D. C." 

